Ethics and Ethical Standards for Social Workers

About this course

This CPD course helps social workers in England understand and apply the ethical values and standards that guide their practice. It covers the core ethical values of social work, the regulatory framework, the standards expected of social workers, ethics in practice including consent, capacity, safeguarding and anti-oppressive practice, breaches of ethical standards and their consequences, and reflection, insight and remediation.

Social work is one of the few professions whose purpose is defined by its values. Social workers hold statutory powers that can affect people's liberty, family life and safety, and they work with people at the most difficult points in their lives. This course is built around real practice dilemmas: when to share information without consent, how to respect an adult's choice to live with risk, how to work with families while protecting children, and how to recognise and challenge oppression, including one's own use of power. It is designed for all registered social workers, including those responding to a concern or fitness to practise matter.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 3 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Understand the importance of ethics in guiding social work practice.
• Apply the core values of social work: human rights, social justice and professional integrity.
• Understand the role of Social Work England and the BASW Code of Ethics.
• Apply ethical standards to confidentiality, boundaries, consent, capacity and safeguarding.
• Practise in an anti-oppressive, anti-discriminatory and empowering way.
• Use reflection, insight and remediation to strengthen ethical practice over time.

Who this course is for

Social workers registered with Social Work England, including those responding to a concern or fitness to practise matter; also relevant to social workers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Social workers: this cross-profession course covers principles that apply across health and social care; most worked examples come from healthcare settings.

Course content

9 sections · 3 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 3 hours of learning; can be recorded as one of your two pieces of Social Work England CPD, and used as the basis for a peer reflection

Format

Self-paced reading with social work practice cases, reflective questions in each section and a written reflective account

Standards covered

Social Work England professional standards; BASW Code of Ethics; Care Act 2014; Children Act 1989; Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023; Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026; Mental Capacity Act 2005; Mental Health Act 2025; Domestic Abuse Act 2021; Human Rights Act 1998; Equality Act 2010; Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998; data protection law and AI

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course